Stronghold of Indian knitwear: Mayer & Cie. exhibits at Knittech in Tirupur

13.03.2017

Tirupur, an industrial city and region in South India, is one of the country’s most important textile centres. Cotton knitwear is mainly manufactured in this area, and exports in this category are almost without exception made in Tirupur. “Many of our Indian customers are from this area, from contract knitters to full-scale businesses,” says Timo Schramm, regional sales manager for India at Mayer & Cie. (MCT).

The Knittech trade fair is held in Tirupur every other year. The focus of this event is on knitting machines – as indicated by the name and location. Mayer & Cie. is regularly represented at this industry event, as are most leading manufacturers. MCT’s regional sales manager Schramm counted 14 international manufacturers of circular knitting machines at this year’s Knittech, held from 10 to 13 February 2017.

Mayer & Cie. had two machines on show in Tirupur: an MBF 3.2 and a D4 2.2 HPI, each with a 30-inch diameter. Both machines were on display at the stand of MCT’s Indian representative Batliboi and are highly suitable for processing cotton, the raw material mainly used in the region. The MBF 3.2 works with a unique technology to process natural and synthetic fibres into high- quality three-thread fleece knitwear. “In recent years the demand for machines to produce this kind of knitwear has greatly increased,” Schramm says. “That was why we showcased our specialist in this area.”

The D4 2.2 HPI, the second Mayer & Cie. machine exhibited in Tirupur, is an interlock machine, the most productive in the world. It has a system density of 4.4 per inch, or 132 systems on 30 inches. It runs at 34 rpm, has been in the Mayer portfolio since the 2015 ITMA and is an international bestseller. At Knittech alone Mayer & Cie. again sold nearly ten of these machines. “With the D4 2.2 HPI we can hold our own very well against Asian manufacturers,” says sales manager Schramm. “The machine is enormously productive, especially in processing cotton.” The Mayer-Batliboi team also clinched a large number of sales contracts for the S4 3.2 and was thus able to go home with an order book that was by and large well filled.

Timo Schramm’s conclusion is correspondingly positive, albeit with one downside: “Knittech is an important trade fair for us. It has a fixed place in our trade fair calendar and in that of our customers. It is all the more regrettable that the framework conditions have for years failed to do justice to the event’s importance. This year, as on previous occasions, the organisers received many complaints.”